Every First Friday, a short presentation and activity aimed at student audiences will be available before the main First Friday program.
Appliqué From Around the World
Explore appliqué designs through textiles from around the world with quilts featured in the International Quilt Museum's 25th Anniversary exhibitions, and more! Interested in making your own appliqué art in paper or cloth? Download this tutorial, and get started with templates based on quilts from the Robert and Ardis James Collection. This tutorial is aimed at beginning to intermediate sewers interested in creating fabric art for display, and uses as few materials as possible. If you can sew a running stitch, you can make your own appliqué art!
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Activity Materials: Coloring Pages + Appliqué Tutorial
Joanna S Rose Collection of Red and White Quilts
Learn some of the history behind ever-varying red and white quilts, and make your own red and white design!
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Exploration of Textile Printing Methods around the World
Join Education Coordinator Lauren Holt for an exploration of textile printing methods around the world, and learn how you can make your own monotype prints with simple materials at home.
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To learn more about some of the quilts and art in this presentation, check out:
Anne Burton’s work, Paper, Fabric and Flesh, is on display in the Pumphrey Gallery through May 14, 2022. Click here to visit the online exhibition.
My Crazy Dream and the Square in a Square quilt are part of the James Collection 25th Anniversary exhibition, An Evolving Vision: Classics, which is on display from March 4th through October 12th, 2022.
The chintz-printed hat will be part of An Evolving Vision: New Horizons, on display from April 29th through October 29th, 2022.
You can also learn more about resist dyeing techniques in another First Friday Fun video, Resist Dyeing Around the World, available in the First Friday Fun playlist on Facebook and YouTube. Click here to view this video.
Quilts and Games
In this First Friday Fun, learn about quilts inspired by games and games that can be played on quilts. Also: make your own woven paper checkers game board!
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Activity materials: Woven paper Checkerboard
Get Inspired by the Quilts of Terrie Mangat
Make your own embellished fabric art with this First Friday Fun! Click here to watch a video that features photos of the quilts in the Capturing the Moment exhibition, clips from a recent video interview with Terri Mangat herself, and a brief tutorial for making your own fabric art postcard to display or send to a friend.
Activity materials: Fabric Postcard
Explore Quilts from the Hopi Mesas
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Activity Materials: What makes you think of family?
Click here to learn more about the exhibition, Painted Quilts of the Hopi Mesas.
Coded Messages in Quilts
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Activity Materials: Decoding activity sheet
In the video and activity sheet, explore coded messages in two quilts from the IQM collection, both included in the Modern Meets Modern exhibition. Learn more about the exhibition here.
Quilts as Memory Objects
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Activity Materials: Memory Jar Activity Sheet
For more information about quilts that act as memory objects, visit these online exhibitions: Trying To Make Sense of It: 9/11, Loss, and Memorial Quilts; The Story Quilts of Rumi O'Brien; and Eiko Okano's Delectable World.
Quilts about Stories and Stories about Quilts
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You can learn more about quilts and Russian folk tales at the online exhibition, Glasnost and Folk Culture. For video read-alouds of some of the books featured in this video, check out our virtual storytime playlist, available until September 1, 2021.
For this month's activity: Read a new book! Whether it's one of the stories in this video, a poem, a novel or a comic, we hope you find something you love. If you can join us in-person, more stories about quilts are available in the IQM's Ghormley Reading Room on the third floor.
Flag Quilts
Learn about flag quilts in the International Quilt Museum's collection and engage in a coloring activity based on Mary Maxtion's Stars and Stripes quilt.
Grades 3-12
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Activity materials: Stripes and Stars Template | Mary Maxtion's Stars and Stripes quilt
Celebrating Nature
Take a look at some quilts that celebrate nature, and enjoy some fun facts in this short video presentation.
Grades K-12
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Activity materials: Celebrate your favorite things about nature
Art and the Love of a Place
Examine quilts that display the artist’s love of a place and share your own favorite place with friends and family through a short activity.
Grades K-12, Visual Arts
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This activity requires art materials of your choice
Quilts, War and Veterans
Explore a selection of quilts created in response to war, sewn by soldiers and civilians alike.
Grades 4-12, Visual Arts, Social Studies
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Activity materials: Andrew Lee Quilts of Valor Connect the Dots, Madison Township Quilt Coloring Sheet
Technology and Trade
Examine the influence of trade and technology on artistic trends in this presentation of selected quilts dated across 200 years of technological change.
Grades 4-12, Visual Arts, Social Studies
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Activity materials: Album Quilt Coloring Sheet
African American Quilts
A short history of community, art and storytelling. This video provides an introduction to African American quilts and community quilting traditions. In addition to a history of quilts and quilters, topics touched on include the WPA slave narratives oral history project, the New Deal’s Tennessee Valley Authority public works program, the Civil Rights Movement, and more recent quilting developments such as 1980s narrative quilts and the Gee’s Bend quilting exhibitions of the early 2000s. The activity asks students to consider where they see art in their community, and what events in their lives they might want to record through art.
Grades 5-12, Visual Arts, Social Studies
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Activity materials: Art in your community handout
Tributes and Protest Quilts: Women's History
In honor of women’s history month, this video examines quilts made to celebrate women’s accomplishments, women’s voices and women’s issues. Topics include famous women in history, commentary on feminist issues, and protest movements in support of women’s rights. The activity asks students to create their own quilt block honoring one of their favorite women in history.
Grades 5-12, Visual Arts, Social Studies
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Activity Materials: Quilt Block
Dynamic Shapes: Make Your Own Log Cabin Quilt Block Puzzle
Explore the design possibilities of log cabin quilt blocks at home with your own log cabin quilt block puzzle. This video introduces students to log cabin quilt blocks and some of the most common designs made with them. The video provides step-by-step instructions for making your own log cabin quilt block puzzle at home.
Grades 2-12, Visual Arts
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Activity materials: Log Cabin puzzle blocks and reference sheets
Resist Dyeing around the World: Make your own resist-technique art at home
Learn about resist dye techniques around the world through quilts and make your own resist-based art using crayons and watercolors at home.
Grades 2-12, Visual Arts
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